KOPPELL PRAISES NEW TAXI PLAN
Credits Cuomo with Disability Access
As Chair of the Council Committee that deals with disability services and a longtime advocate for full taxi accessibility, Council Member Oliver Koppell is particularly pleased that the legislation creating changes in NYC taxi service will provide for wheelchair accessibility and has praised Governor Cuomo as being instrumental in making this happen.
In a letter to the governor, Koppell said, “Your leadership with respect to this legislation was crucial in moving the city toward the goal of full accessibility. Without your insistence that there be greater taxi accessibility for disabled people this would not have happened”. (see attached.).
In addition to giving credit to the governor for the success of this historic legislation, Koppell also credited the disabled community and their advocates saying, “A victory of this magnitude does not happen in a vacuum. It can be attributed in large measure to those who have been forcefully calling for “taxis for all” for more than a decade. As the prime sponsor of a bill in the City Council to make all new yellow cabs in New York City wheelchair accessible, Koppell has been a strong spokesman for equal transportation.
The legislation provides for 2,000 more wheelchair accessible yellow cabs, whose medallion auction is expected to raise at least $1 billion for the city. It also creates a new class of livery cabs with metered fares, credit card readers and roof lights. Of the 18,000 new permits that the Taxi and Limousine Commission is expected to issue for these cabs, one fifth will be wheelchair accessible. The city will also provide up to $54 million in subsidies and loans to encourage livery drivers to buy vehicles that accommodate disabled riders.
As part of the deal, within a year, the city must create a long-term plan to convert the entire yellow cab fleet to disability access. The State Department of Transportation, which is overseen by the governor, will have to approve that plan before the city can auction all 2,000 new medallions.
Koppell is also gratified that people in northern Manhattan and the outer-boroughs will have vastly expanded access to taxi service, something his constituents have wanted for a long time.
Koppell said, “As the representative of an outer-borough district, I am delighted that my Bronx constituents will no longer be disadvantaged with respect to taxi service. I am equally gratified that, after a long fight, members of the disabled community will have equal access to taxi service.”
